Remembering how painful the changeover had been when he became a vampire, Michael took a handful of pills before he went to sleep the next night. He had spent all of yesterday reasoning with his family, and although hatred still burned in Sam's eyes whenever they met his, there was a sort of hushed expectation among them. They were all waiting for the unnatural light that shone behind his eyes to dim and extinguish forever. Or not forever...since that was the point.

He crawled between the blankets and let sleep overtake him, his restless thoughts finally clearing, and fading into slumber.

That night he dreamed, a nightmare.. As he often did since it had all happened to him. In this dream he sat up in his bed slowly, confused by someone screaming... somewhere. In the house perhaps. He knew it was a dream because everything danced before his eyes, and sounds were muted, and far off. Even the screaming didn't really reach him, but was more of a distraction, unimportant. Shadows fell across the room, making strange shapes in the little light that filtered in through the curtains. The shadows and the screaming... these were what Michael could understand of the darkness.

After a few moments of motionless listening, he made out more than one voice joined in the chorus, more like two or three. These sounds would now and again join together, and then they would fade. Then they would begin again... and Michael was afraid, and confused. It seemed the screaming had gone on for hours, and then he realised it had simply been for a split second... and then blessed silence to follow. The sound still rang in his ears.

This was a dream because when Michael moved to rise from the bed he fell onto his side, and sat blinking on the floor, a pillow toppling into his lap. Quiet sounds now issued from below, now and again the odd groan... and finally nothing. The silence was worse than any tormented protests.

This had to be a dream because when Michael finally made it onto his feet he felt weak, as though his knees would buckle, and shapes danced before his eyes. The door opened when he pushed at it, but the motion was so slow... he felt as though he were watching something underwater, all muted and so light...

Laughter startled him, the sound coming from above. But when he craned his neck to squint up ahead he saw nothing but beams, and a dusty old cobweb barely attached to the corner still. He sighed, a long drawn out sound that took forever to clear his lungs, forcing him to close his eyes. He thought he would fall then... backward down the stairs... and toppling into the world of the waking...

Only he didn't fall, because David caught him. "Not long now, Michael." He whispered close to his ear. It was soothing to Michael, for some reason, and he smiled. Not long now... and he'd be mortal again.

The house seemed alien in this dream, and threatening in some strange way, and so Michael allowed David to lead him through it, into a room he knew well. Most nightmares ended up in this room, a thousand dead eyes that stared accusingly, their cold bodies absolutely still. But they could all move at any moment, with a sudden fury and indignance. Grandpa's passion, and their humiliation. The stuffed animals were so many that it was difficult to see anything past the fur and teeth, and of course their glittering, beady eyes.

On the far wall hung the bigger animals, the ones for showing off and boasting about. Huge, antlered beasts, mostly just their heads mounted on mahogany plaques. The bodies of his mother, brother, and grandfather hung impaled on these huge antlers now. Drip.. Drip..

Michael groaned, not wanting to see those pools of blood, or the ghastly expressions of agony etched on their lifeless faces. Nightmare...horrific... he wanted to wake up now.

"You know.. " began David as he seated himself slowly in grandpa's rocking chair. "I never thought you were so stupid, truly. When I used that enchantment to show you my image in the cave... and told you to pour my blood onto my body... I didn't think you'd do it. It was a... stab in the dark, so to speak." He smirked over at the bodies as he said this.

Michael swallowed slowly, confused, and having a hard time following the words... too fast. He was also worried about the bodies on the wall.... they were bleeding and they looked as though they were in pain. He kept forgetting that they were dead in this nightmare. Didn't matter... he'd wake up soon.

"Oh... you don't have to answer Michael. I was speechless too.." He continued with a nod, his brow arched in amusement. "So there I was, breathing again, and finding myself free from the pain..no, agony that you and yours had left me in, buried in the filthy sand of Santa Carla beach. I wasn't pretty... I had to feed, and quickly. But those two boys did me just fine... you know the two. The ones that killed Marko, they were easy to find. You should have seen their faces when they saw me...."

At this point he paused, his smile broadening, but it held an air of malice.

"You're not a full vampire... Michael. You can't take so many pills and expect to feel just fine. Your body hasn't stopped reacting... so you can't override the effects. At the same time it isn't quickened like a mortal's body... so the chemicals take longer to cease their effects... Oh, I bet you feel like shit right about now, don't you...?"

Michael opened his mouth to reply, but what emerged was a scream of absolute terror as it dawned on him. This was not a dream. He reeled backwards, sending a stuffed badger flying into a stuffed stoat, which rammed into a stuffed owl so that all three clattered noisily to the floor on their stands. Blind panic seized him when he again caught sight of the bodies, each one staring ahead in its own silent entreaty. Help us... and the blood trickled from the corners of their mouths, his mothers forming a perfect circle, as though she had died whispering a delicate ‘oh'.

His legs gave way beneath him, he knew it because he felt himself falling, and he felt the ground meet with his knees painfully, and his head connect with the corner of a table. Small sounds were coming from him, but he couldn't form words. Squeaks and chokes, and a tight pain in his chest. His head began to ache miserably, and he couldn't close his eyes or look away, nor even blink.

When he did look up David was nowhere to be seen. Michael whimpered something, pleading with him to stop now... stop now... had to stop now.... want to wake up now... please...

"I know your pain." Came a whisper from behind. "And now you know the full extent of mine."

David snarled softly, holding Michael by the shoulders as he plunged the spear-like antler through his back, and watched it emerge from the other side. He listened to the gurgling, spluttered cry, and he felt a pang of regret. For all of it..

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

He left the bodies as they were, for the police or neighbours to discover. He didn't care what happened to the bodies... other than that of Michael, which he took care of. He made certain there was no way it could be revived, and he disposed of it in the sea.

On his return journey to the cave he passed by his own grave, and he kicked at the antler that jutted from the ground, unsettling it so that it lay sprawled on the sand. He had delivered his promise to Michael... peace. Peace to a mortal who had destroyed everything he cared for, and thrown his generosity to the winds, only to reward it with untold pain.

Perhaps for a split second that night... Michael had truly known David's pain.